


A Golden Opportunity

by kleptoandpyro



Series: DCTV Gen Bingo [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Bank Robbery, Crimes & Criminals, DCTV Gen Bingo 2019, Discord: Flarrowverse Shipyard, Done Lisa, Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, Gen, Len is a bad mechanic, Lisa is questioning her life choices, Protective Older Brothers, Sassy Snarts, Snarky Len, Snibs, The Rogues (DCU) As Family, The Rogues (DCU) Mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-04-05 17:30:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19045087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kleptoandpyro/pseuds/kleptoandpyro
Summary: Lisa has a very specific idea about what it means to be a Rogue. The practical isn't exactly what she'd envisioned.





	A Golden Opportunity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hiver_Frost_Elf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hiver_Frost_Elf/gifts).



> A fleshed out Tumblr ask by my trusty partner, @Hiver_Frost_Elf:
> 
> https://kleptoandpyro.tumblr.com/post/183862701021/snibs-just-ask-for-help-already
> 
> Also written for the 'Siblings' block of my DCTV Gen Bingocard 2019.

It was after the third deafening blast of dirty air and cold spray in her face that Lisa conceded that this was definitely not what she had signed up for. She was cold, wet and getting catcalled by every other passing vehicle like some low life street hooker instead of commanding the respect a dangerous femme-fatale career-criminal type should get.

_ Did they not see her gun? Her signature outfit? _

With the new status, after all, she should’ve been well on her way to getting the recognition she deserved, even by random passing losers. Although, considering the situation she was in...that probably wasn’t a good thing.

She holstered her gun, deciding to at least try for some form of inconspicuousness in case The Heat really did show up and put name to face. It was early days but some of CCPD really had it out for her new crew.

A crew that was building a high Rep for discord and an even higher record for successfully pulling off high end crimes…

Except after everything she’d seen and heard about the Rogues, she had to admit that  _ this  _ wasn’t even coming close to living up to her expectation.

The Central City Rogues were experts, cool and respected by most of the criminal underground. Even when they weren’t on a job, they were still running the city; putting the factions in line, stopping the Family from spreading their influence too much, keeping the Flash on his toes...

And with her brother at the helm, she had always imagined suped-up cars and exciting cop chases, gadgets and gizmos and cunning plans with flawless escapes. Yachts, casinos and expensive drinks.

She always took pleasure in reading about their escapades in the news, how they rolled in like a well oiled machine, got the goods and left the cops in the dust; it was even due to the heists she’d seen pulled off in the past couple of weeks that she’d finally press-ganged Lenny into bringing her into the fold. Well, more ‘turned up out of the blue and refused to let him leave on the next job without her’.   
  
She wanted a bite of that action packed, Rogueish pie, and with the new addition of her gold gun, she knew she’d fit right in.

Another blast hit her, this time carrying with it a used cigarette. It left an ashy mark on her black leather jacket as it bounced off and she was brought hurtling back to the present.

A present where the fantasy was seriously starting to fray.

A heist with her brother had sounded so exciting; the de facto leader himself had a near spotless record and even named his damn blueprints so of course she’d jumped at the chance. Even though the other Rogues had all pulled off big impressive jobs recently, Lenny’s rep still outclassed them all...or at least it  _ should’ve. _

A jet of dirty water splashed her as a semi drove past and peppered her pants with brown flecks of godonlyknewwhat.

Her patience had officially ran out.

“Why not just ask for help already?” she yelled over the road sounds.

There was a dramatic pause from behind her.

“Oh yeah, great idea, Sis, let’s ask a friendly passing police officer to stop on his rounds and help me change this tire,” shot a grease covered Len attempting - with well disguised difficulty - to jack up the stolen buick on the side of the freeway. “I’m sure he’ll not notice the thousands of dollars sat in the back or the face of the guy at the top of their Most Wanted.”

Lisa just rolled her eyes and continued to keep watch, hugging her jacket around herself to ward of the cold of the early hours. As well as the sarcasm in Len’s voice, there was a large undernote of boredom which made him sound like he wasn't taking the situation seriously, and all it did was make Lisa feel even more out of her depth. “I meant why not call Mick? Or another one of your cronies? Y’know, someone who actually knows what they’re doing?”

The sounds of jacking stopped and were replaced by loud swearing from Len pinching his hand in the mechanism; he peered over the hood to glare at her, oily thumb stuck between his lips. “I don’t need help, I know how to change a damn tire. And even if I didn’t I’d rather call 911 on myself than call for help. Mick’d never let me live it down, once he’d stopped laughing at me.”

In her mind’s eye, expensive high end clothes, gold jewelry and flashy nightclub bars with attractive men all dissolved and morphed into second hand stores, plastic bangles and greasy truck stops with even greasier truckers. 

She bet  _ Bonnie _ never had to entertain the thought.

“We could’ve been in a warm, dry lounge by now counting cash and sipping martinis but you insist on doing everything yourself and instead we’re on a freezing turnpike at 3am dodging cigarette butts and truck splatter,” she ground out.

“Doing everything myself is what got us this far, so unless you have anything productive to say, dodge a few more, pop the trunk and pass me the spare,” groused Len. "Unless of course you’re afraid of chipping your nails," he added with a teasing smirk.

Lisa looked bracingly at the night sky before turning on the spot and walking huffily to the back of the car to begin fishing out the spacesaver. By the time she'd extracted it, her French tips were oil tips and her heels had sunk an inch into roadside muck. The only thing that had stopped her throwing the thing at Len had been the sight of the piles of green bills dominating the back seats as she shut the lid.

_ It was all going to be worth it...somehow. _

The small ‘oof’ Len made when the spare tire rolled over a little too hard into his side was still satisfying, though.

With the grip of schadenfreude pulling at her lips, Lisa walked back to the roadside and continued her campaign of trying to scowl each passing motorist off the road. Perhaps one of them would even be kind enough to feel the gravitas of her frustration and crash near them so she could put their vehicle to better use.

She wasn’t picky. Even a garbage truck would do at this stage.

“What’s got your panties in a twist.”

After a long and arduous moment to make sure she had indeed correctly heard him, Lisa rolled her eyes in a grand disbelief-filled arc that started on the freeway and ended on Len’s fuzzy hood poking above the car behind her. “You’re smart Lenny, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. But it starts with ‘amateur’ and ends with ‘hour.’”

“You’re not pissed at the puncture, no car on the planet is impervious to those. Something else is bothering you. So, spit it out. We have enough baggage to haul back to the hideout without you adding more.” He didn’t even look up when while drawling out his answer, and Lisa understood -  with sparkling clarity - how her brother managed to simultaneously annoy and command the respect of so many people.

He was infuriatingly right, of course, but it was said in a way that suggested whatever was bothering her was written on her face in big bold italics. 

She stalked forward, hand resting firmly on her holstered gun. Lenny and her were similar up to a point; where he could stay cool as a cucumber for most of the calendar year, she had her limits, and with the new antsy addition of a cop siren blaring out a little too close for comfort somewhere down the road, the toxic thoughts began to unload. “10 nights ago, Weather Wizard broke into the Central City Meteorological Center and made off with a king’s ransom of lightning rods and supercapacitors. He took off into the sky, blew away the CCPD and now he’s in the wind.”

Len continued to work, his hood bobbing with each movement, only letting out a brief scoff at the pun.

Getting no verbal response, Lisa continued, a little firmer. “Peekaboo knocked off the diamond exchange last week, almost wiped them out and then she vanished into thin air, as she does.” She snapped her fingers. “No one’s seen her since. She got away scott free and the cops aren’t even bothering to even launch an investigation! Textbook steal.”

Still nothing.

Lisa started to pace, crossing her arms, mainly ranting to herself at this stage. “And just a few nights ago, I heard Mirror Master and Top in the casino talking about breaking into the Federal Bank. There’s been nothing on the news so I can only assume that they got exactly what they wanted too. No repercussions. No repercussions for  _ any _ of  _ them _ , it seems.”

She faced him once more and slammed her hands on the hood.

He didn’t so much as flinch.

“So what’s got my ‘panties in a twist’, Lenny, is why we’re up to our eyeballs in grease and crap on a dirty freeway, next to a broken car with three wheels and no wing mirrors, in full view of any cop that drives by, while all of the other Rogues are probably sat in some VIP lounge somewhere sipping on champagne just waiting to laugh about our arrest on the news tomorrow.”

He had the audacity to laugh, barely audible over the whooshing sound of several cars passing. “Oh, is that it. You think you got the short straw.”

“When we’re _caught_ , Lenny, I’m pretty sure it’ll be  _ the final straw. _ ”

There was another long pause, and Lisa was about to kick the car off the jack to get Len's attention, but fortunately for him - and the car - he finally sat back on his heels, wiped his palms on his jeans and looked at her in the eye for their first time since they'd gotten there.

"The cops aren't coming."

She was about to open her mouth but Len cut her off. "And you shouldn’t believe everything you hear about this little ragtag crew. For one, they all lie for a living and two, filling in the gaps with assumptions is what reporters do, not us.”

She looked at him quizzically. She had a feeling the ‘us’ was in reference to the two of them, but she couldn’t be sure. Lenny often spoke in riddles and she wasn’t in the mood to decipher any of them today. She was still cold, still wet, her louis vuitton’s were almost ruined and now he was actively being a jerk.  _ “Speak English, smartass.” _

He seemed to get the memo. “It may interest you to know that Mardon made off with faulty goods. The CCMC were housing the broken equipment in their storage building, waiting for the go ahead to return to the manufacturer. Mardon stole it all with the intention of developing his own brand of energy based weaponry; Rathaway was gonna do most of the heavy lifting, repair wise, but it all went South. They locked horns over something, Audioslave told him where he could shove his lightning rods and now he's sat on a big pile of useless junk.”

Lisa blinked.

“Last I heard Mardon was down the docks trying to sell it all off to whoever would take it. But since the place is a hotspot for undercover cops, I think the only thing he’ll be handing over is himself."

A gust of exhaust fumes whipped LIsa's hair about but she paid it no heed; her eyebrow raising as she listened.

Len continued. "Similarly, I read an interesting article in Newstime last week about the diamond exchange receiving a batch of diamonds with suspect serial numbers. They closed their doors while they sorted through the paperwork, and sent the consignment off for quality checking. To keep up appearances during down time, they replaced the window specimens with fakes. Good ones too by the sounds of it."

The manicured brow continued to climb. "So Shawna-"

"Likely lined her pockets with a pile of expertly cut glass replicas," Len finished.

Lisa didn't say anything in response to that but her lips started a slow upward curl at the edges. However, she was still determined not to show just how surprised she was. "OK, that’s all well and good but that doesn't stop the cops from finding  _ us _ ,” she said offhandedly.  “It's not as if we're not sat here like sitting duc-"

"It’s like I said, the cops aren't coming," Len interrupted, voice simmering with amusement.

Lisa tossed out the blasé attitude as quickly as she’d adopted it and threw her hands in the air. "And what makes you so sure."

He was still smirking. “Because unlike you, I take my information straight from the horse’s mouth.”

And she watched as Len opened his parka to reveal a police radio in the inside pocket. She wouldn’t’ve been able to hear it over the road sounds, but Len could’ve.

She couldn't stop the impressed smile now. "You've been listening to them this whole time,” she stated, shaking her head at the simplicity. “What’s got them so interested- 10 car pile up? Half off donuts at Big Belly Burger?” She couldn’t help the note of bitterness that entered her voice at the prospect of them only getting lucky because they were in the right place at the right time.

Len just smiled further, his eyes actually twinkling slightly. "They aren't coming because they're too busy arresting Scudder and his little side piece at the Federal Bank. Seems someone tipped them off about their decision to reschedule the job for tonight. Scudder always did love the sound of his own voice, in addition to his reflection."

She looked at Lenny, and he looked straight back, poker faced but delighted, and in that moment Lisa could feel their energies align. She couldn't help the blossom of mirth that took over her face and she was sorry she ever doubted him. “So, all for one, none for all? Is that how it works?”

She expected something snarky in reply, a zinger from Cold’s back catalogue, but instead Len looked at her as if he was honestly weighing the question.

He shrugged and returned to the wheel. “You reap what you sow. Mardon’s entire plan hinged on a partner that wasn’t on the same page he was, ergo he failed. Shawna did no prior research and didn’t case the facility she was breaking into beforehand, so ended up with a hot pile of nothing. And Scudder let his mouth run in a public place which meant he got taken advantage of, and, in the end, his plan only served to ensure the success of another’s.

“Just because we don’t follow the law, doesn’t mean there aren’t rules to this game. You follow them, and your hard work pays off,” and Len glanced to the money in the back seat. “You  _ don’t _ and you’ll only pay the price,” and he indicated to the radio in his pocket.

They shared another significant look. The brotherly advice was well disguised under a layer of ‘boss to underling’ but that was definitely what it was. It was new to her and it took her slightly by surprise. They hadn’t spent much time together after Lenny got sent to Juvie so she’d missed out on the usual stuff little sisters tended to get in their teen years: _ don’t talk to strange men in alleyways, don’t let guys you’ve just met buy you drinks, always get a cab home… _

This was a side of Lenny she’d missed out on, not that it was something she needed - if he tried to tell her now after all this time about ‘stranger danger’ she’d put her heel into his foot - but the  _ ‘work smarter not harder’ _ moral was something she could work with. 

It’s what gave Lenny his edge in the market, why Lewis had always failed, and now - she realised, with a great deal of fresh satisfaction - why all the other Rogues had too.

Lisa eventually nodded in understanding, suddenly seeing their little roadside sojourn in a different light. She wiped the mud flecks from her jacket, now not so bothered by their presence, because in her mind, dirty clothes were looking better than IHP jumpsuit orange.

Len stood at last, grimacing slightly after being crouched for so long. He kicked the old tire behind him into a bush, threw the Jack into the back and flipped his hood back up with a very Coldesque smirk.

Lisa snorted.

"So, care to see this to the end or you gonna take off and show me how it's done?" he taunted.

She rolled her eyes. "Just get in the car," she groused slamming the door shut behind her before Len could get the last word.

Once they were both inside he turned to her slightly in his seat. “Oh and Sis? Almost forgot."

Tearing her eyes away from the rearview mirror where the cash in the backseat was glimmering at her, Lisa looked at him.

Len started the car and remarked, "Welcome to the Rogues,” with a slight vocal flourish, pulling forward towards the road.

The car made it 5ft. There was a bang, a jolt, a black shape spun off in her periphery and the buick lurched forward into the dirt like the Titanic.

Despite the sudden crash, and the fact she had almost headbutted the dash, Lisa had to bite her cheek to stop herself from exploding, and looking over and seeing the expression on Lenny's face had nearly made it twice as hard not to launch into belly laughs.

Instead she took a few deep breaths, waited for dramatic effect - she was a Snart, after all - plucked her phone out of her jacket pocket and waved it at Len who had never looked more Done.

He turned his head painfully slow to glare at her.

She gleamed back, bright and toxic. “I’m sure Mick won’t laugh at you for too long.”

Lisa Snart would’ve never believed that sitting windswept and covered in dirt, half deafened by the freeway, in a cold three-wheeled car with no wing mirrors at 3:27am on a Thursday with half a mil’ in the back and an embittered Lenny in the front, could never have made her feel more like a Central City Rogue.

**Author's Note:**

> Interested in talking DCTV with other writers? Get involved in a DC community where we basically talk ships and fanworks and write fic all day long? Find beta readers and like minded folk?
> 
> Then join us in the [The Flarrowverse Shipyard Discord Server](https://discord.gg/D4RFsRq)! You've got nothing to lose, come get involved!


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